Things We Lost to the Water

Vietnam’s history is tumultuous. Colonized by France in 1858 and invaded by Japan during World War II, Vietnam finally gained independence in 1954 thanks to armed conflict led by Ho Chi Minh’s Communist guerilla force, the Viet Minh. It then split into Communist North Vietnam—led by Ho Chi Minh and supported by the Soviet Union and Communist China—and capitalist South Vietnam, backed by the US. Conflicts between the North and South continued. The US, fearing the spread of communism via the domino theory—the belief that if one country succumbed to communism, so would its neighbors, like falling dominos—entered the Vietnam War in 1964 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. One of the most controversial and deadly wars in US history, it lasted until American troops pulled out, defeated, in 1973, and Saigon fell to the Communists in 1975.

While 58,000 American soldiers were killed and 304,000 were wounded during the war, its effects on the Vietnamese people, especially in South Vietnam, were also widespread. Some four million Vietnamese citizens were killed or wounded, 1.3 million of them civilians. Their lush farmland was destroyed because the US military dropped more than 14 million tons of explosives—over double the amount used in World War II—on South Vietnam, which is roughly the size of California, and American soldiers used millions of gallons of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange, to destroy South Vietnamese jungles, forests, crops, and vegetation and thereby combat Communist guerilla forces (“The War’s Effect on the Vietnamese Land and People.” Vietnam War Reference Library, 2022). For US soldiers and Vietnamese people alike, these chemicals had devastating, long-lasting health consequences, and “[m]ost [Vietnamese] people didn’t even know the difference between communism and democracy [...] They wanted everything to do with the war [...] to leave them alone in peace” (“The War’s Effect on the Vietnamese Land and People”).

Known as the “American War” to many Vietnamese people because of the US invasion, the conflict and devastation had drastic consequences for Vietnam’s people, particularly those in the south. Fearing Communist re-education camps (forced labor camps focusing on indoctrination), many South Vietnamese soldiers who couldn’t escape by boat or via American military aircraft destroyed all traces of their military involvement, even burning their uniforms (Roos, Dave. “How the End of the Vietnam War Led to a Refugee Crisis.” History, 1 Sept. 2021). Of those who escaped, about 140,000-150,000 relocated to the US, but 25,000-50,000 more died at sea, and 620,000 others first spent years in refugee camps in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines: “[M]ultiple generations were born inside [these] refugee camps” during the 30 years they were open (Roos). The mass influx of people from Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia (fleeing the Khmer Rouge) triggered a US refugee crisis. The US welcomed refugees who fled after the fall of Saigon in 1975, partly because of American guilt about the war. However, the second wave in 1978 received a far cooler welcome—partly because the US was in economic recession—and had more difficulty adjusting to life in the US (Roos).

In South Vietnam, the US presence created a stark class dichotomy: the wealthy Americans who lived in luxury versus the poor and devastated Vietnamese. Many Saigon residents—including those fleeing the war—took service industry jobs aimed at pleasing Americans or engaged in illegal activities like sex work and drug use (“The War’s Effect on the Vietnamese Land and People”). The effects of this division were long-lasting and stark. In addition, Americans in Vietnam created a new population of “Amerasians”—children of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers—who were rejected by many American and Vietnamese people. Dismissed by both governments, these children were often abandoned, bullied, and thrown out of their homes. While some were evacuated during the American retreat, most had to fend for themselves. Severely lacking basic opportunities, many fell prey to dangerous lifestyles involving drugs, gangs, and even prison time and were unable to become US citizens even after the US government began resettling them in 1987. Only 3% of Amerasians were reunited with their fathers, many of whom were unaware of their existence. Some Amerasians were the result of “longer-term, loving relationships, including marriage,” but they were still often stereotyped as the children of sex workers and viewed with derision (Lamb, David. “Children of the Vietnam War.” Smithsonian Magazine, June 2009).

Things We Lost to the Water depicts many of these historical complexities, focusing on the effects of both French colonialism (portraying French fluency and the profession of French and Vietnamese literature professor) and the Communist takeover (through dislocation from North Vietnam and torture at a re-education camp). Hương’s journey to America mirrors that of the “boat people,” who fled in secret and stayed at refugee camps before resettlement. Like them, Hương is traumatized and doesn’t speak English; while she adjusts to life in the US better than some, she and Vinh struggle to make ends meet and primarily work blue-collar jobs. Hương’s family constantly faces racism and prejudice, reflecting the cold attitudes of Americans toward the second-wave refugees. Additionally, Hương is wary of American (Catholic) assistance, reflecting the complex relationships between Vietnamese and Americans; many children, including Trúc, Ngọc, and the Southern Boyz, refer to the “American War.” Likewise, Frank and Kim-Anh’s story highlights the discomfort of the “wealthy American and service industry Vietnamese” dichotomy (which Bình and Professor Schreiber also mirror). Đinh-Fredric reflects the Amerasians: Isolated from the Versailles Vietnamese community for his mixed heritage, he still identifies as Vietnamese rather than American. His mother cares about him, but despite her moving to New Orleans to find him, neither can successfully locate his Black American father.